By BRYAN "CHIEF" ERGLE
October 16, 2006

Catholics around the world today face a more diverse environment than perhaps ever before in the faith’s two millennia history. For the first time since the founding of Catholicism, many countries in which the faith thrives guarantee the freedom of its people to practice the faith of their choosing. Such is the environment we in the United States are accustomed to, if not take for granted.

Few take into account that, for example, there are in China over eight million Catholics who live their faith at the expense of violating the communist government’s ban on outside religions, communing with the world Catholic community only in secret.

Even beyond the difficulties of government interference with religious freedoms, Catholics still today face more personal dangers. In response to perceived insults to the Islamic faith, individual Catholics have been murdered in recent months, including a priest in Trabzon, Turkey and a nun in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Threats to the continuance of Catholicism come in many forms. Catholic churches in many more advanced countries are reporting that they are losing footing to other religions rapidly, as the low Catholic birth rate combined with slowing numbers of conversions fails to outstrip the natural death rate.

Members of the Catholic faith in several prominent countries are beginning to lose faith or at least are ceasing being active in the Church. This, combined with the fact that many potential converts view Catholicism as a faith that is losing touch with the progress of the world outside, provide a far less hopeful outlook for the coming years than has normally been the case in recent decades.